


mathematically speaking

by leonhartous (orphan_account)



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-05-17
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:16:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/leonhartous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draw a line between A and B. Now try to imagine the infinites that exist between them. – Aster Bunnymund and the numbers that seem to ruin his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01 - those small heartbreaks

# those small heartbreaks

 

**01\. the basics** \- in basic mathematics we have the four arithmetic operations: addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (x) and division (÷), which are mainly performed by using the one digit numbers (1 to 9).

* * *

  
It’s hot – too hot – and the ventilator in her room can barely be suggested as a sort of relief. Not that he wants to complain about it or anything.

Summer in Burgess is almost as unbearable as the winter season, with the heat raising from the pavement and threatening to fry anything – or anyone, for that matter – that barely touched it. There were never enough ice-cream trucks or stores with air conditioners – a blessing from god – around; it was the epitome of intolerable, hell on earth. The boy wondered if that’s how Pompeii felt like when it was being covered by fire and ashes, because damn if it wasn’t painful. Damn temperate weather. Damn small town that had just one public pool. Damn summer season.

Aster really wished he was back in Australia right now, with the beach and the sea nearby his house. If he closed his eyes he could imagine it, Sydney, the fresh salty breeze and the cold water on his skin, the waves clashing against his body - almighty and pulling him further into the ocean - bringing relief.

“Bunny, did you finish those exercises?” All it takes is six words, six words and he is all the way back to Burgess and on his neighbor’s room, which is – quite tragically - far, far away from Sydney.

“No.” He answers and by the disapproving look she gives him he wonders if he should have lied to her instead. “Sorry, Tooth.” His green eyes try to focus on the worksheet in front of him, his 2B pencil hammering an absent-minded tune at the recent polished floor. The boy is trying hard to think about equations instead of the unbearable heat and the sweat making his shirt stick to his skin like paper on glue. 

Tooth’s room is not very big, which explains why they are lying on the wooden floor, textbooks and worksheets surrounding them as if it they had lost some kind of battle. The place is a sort of mix of pinks and greens and blues and every other color you can imagine with cute plushies and girly posters and dentist models. Being there would almost be an insult to his masculinity if he weren’t so used to it anyways. Being on her room with her, that is. It’s embarrassing how thinking about it makes him blush so fast, cheeks a hue of red she never seemed to notice.

To say that he had a crush on his neighbor/childhood friend/the cutest –prettiest, most perfect - girl he has ever met would be a gross understatement.

“You really need to finish these, you know?” Tooth says, voice smooth as if trying to make him continue the homework their teacher assigned for the summer break. “You almost didn’t make a C minus on our last test.”

“I know…” Aster answers weakly while still trying to figure out the questions that looked more like greek to him on his worksheet. “I’m stuck on number five.”

“Let’s see…” The girl shuffles her papers until she finds that one problem her friend mentioned. “Find a and b so that the rational function f(x) = (ax4 + bx3 + 3) / (x3 - 2) has an oblique asymptote given by y = 2x – 3.” It’s definitely greek, or chinese. It sounds like it.

If there’s something he hates more than summer in Burgess that thing is math.

It doesn’t matter how much or how hard he tries, it never makes sense to him. Not with all the formulas, numbers that are not even supposed to exist or the bloody stupid quadratic equations. What was the big deal with math anyways? He would use only twenty percent of what he learned on real life situations, and twenty percent was being generous about it.

“Can’t I just get another C and be approved to another grade as a below average student?” By the way she punches his arm the answer is no, no you can’t. “Crikey, Tooth! What was that for?” Aster rubbed the beaten limb pretending to be hurt – she’s so tiny compared to him -, laughter and playfulness dripping out of his voice along with that thick Australian accent. Teasing her was a little game he enjoyed playing since he was eight and he usually never lost.

“That wasn’t funny, you’re not even trying!” She tries to scold him but it doesn’t really works since she is giggling as much as him. “You’re smart Bunny, you just have an issue with numbers that’s all.”

“An issue? More like a personal problem.” Aster scoots closer to her, forcing his eyes to look at her face instead of her tights and the cute floral skirt she is wearing today. Damn hormones. Damn those nice legs. Damn summer. “Why are we doing this, anyways? Our break just started!”

“Because we don’t want to do homework one day before the break ends.” The girl moves a bit to the side so he can have space to sit beside her, lilac eyes getting back to the worksheet and her pencil working fast on the equations. “At least I don’t.”

“Aww c’mon Tooth!” Aster whines, bumping their shoulders together so she would stop writing, it was quite a failed attempt. “At least let’s go get some ice-cream, pretty please?” And he tries doing that lost puppy look that used to work until they were on the fifth grade; after all she still indulged to his wishes sometimes.

“I will NOT walk six blocks to Mr. Bennet’s store under that scalding sun just so you can have your ice-cream.” She chides while ignoring his pleading look and answering another mathematical problem. The way she could do it so easily has always been a mystery to him. “Bunny, can’t you concentrate in anything besides arts class?” Tooth giggled a bit at that part.

“At least he has an air conditioner.” The boy rolled his eyes at that. What he wouldn’t give to be at Mr. Bennet’s store, cool air all around and a Cinnamon Bun flavored Ben & Jerry’s on his hand. Tooth would probably get the Cake Batter one, they would chat and laugh and it would be way more fun than doing math homework at the start of the summer break. “And no, no I can’t.”

“Wait a minute… Did you just complain about my ventilator?” She asked feigning an offended expression, a strange glint of mischief on her eyes.

“Maybe.” Aster said, a bit of laughter on his voice, as if defying her to do something about it. “Admit it Tooth, the poor thing can barely keep the heat away. Let’s just follow my plan and go get some ice-cream.”

“Oh yeah…?” And she turned the ventilator off, a satisfied smile gracing her lips.

She. Turned. The. Bloody. Vent. Off.

“Tooth you’ll turn this thing on again right now!” The old fan could barely cool down the room and it was a bit noisy, but no ventilator at all would be even worst. “It’s hot like hell already!”

“Weren’t you complaining about it a minute ago?” The smirk on her face does the trick and he knows that right now they weren’t studying anymore. It has always been like this between them. Well, not when they were children, the sassy remarks came much time later, but the playfulness and the mischievous undertones has always been the same.

He tackles her to the ground without much of a warning, tickling her sides on all the spots he knows that make her laugh louder and squirm and screech beneath him. She laughs and laughs – “Bunny, stop it! We need to finish our homework!” and “Stop being such a killjoy!” between their ragged breaths – and now they are six year olds again. The papers and the textbooks around them all move to make space. Tooth’s skirt slides up her legs just a little, revealing more of her tights and the smooth tanned skin and – suddenly – Aster is very much aware of well, everything - mainly that they are not kids anymore - and it doesn’t makes him stop at all; her laughter like a pleasant tune to his ears. She tickles him too – because, just like he knows her like the back of his hand, she knows him too well - and what started like a joke becomes much like a kind of war, the heat, the worksheets and the ventilator way past forgotten.

When they stop to breath, the telltale of giggles and laughter still escaping their mouths, they are sweaty and the hot weather seems even worst, but there’s this weird happy feeling that never failed to linger between them. Aster is laying on his back on the floor, casually counting the fluorescent star stickers she has glued on her ceiling since a long time ago. Tooth is with her head leaning on his chest and it’s impossible to not think about how right it feels, with his fingers absent-mindedly removing the small tangles on her hair and their limbs in a mess on the floor.

Her cellphone starts ringing – that annoying Lollipop tune he insists she should remove – and when she gets up to answer it it’s hard to ignore the emptiness she leaves behind on his arms. Aster shakes his head a little, trying to deny what is certain since a long time.

Stop it, will you?

“Hello?” Her voice is soft while answering the phone and – just by the way her eyes glimmer just a little bit brighter – he already knows who is on the other side of the line. “Oh, hi Jack!”

He does his best to not show any sour expression.

“Yeah, sure.” Aster can’t really hear what they are talking about save for Tooth’s part in the dialogue, and maybe he doesn’t want to know at all. “Okay! See you.” When she hangs up the pink cellphone all he can do is stare from his place on the floor.

“Frostbite?” The boy knows the answer already but asks for the sake of keeping the conversation going. He wonders where all the laughter from minutes ago had gone.

“Yes.” She turns to him and smiles that smile. “He’s coming over here, it seems he’s having problems with the homework too.” She starts to collect all the scattered papers on the floor while humming a stupid pop love song. 

Yes. Yes, which for Aster is only one of the billions of ways Tooth unconsciously has to tell him no. No Bunny, no. So, this is the personal problem he has with mathematics. It never works for him in any way, not the complex questions and certainly not even the basics of the basics from elementary arithmetic. Because, you see, one plus one is supposed to be two.

But in his case, one plus one always ended up resulting three, an odd number that only meant that something was being left out on the equation.

And you learn to count using all the chips and cracks on your heart.


	2. 02 - cooties

# cooties

 

**02\. to count** \- to name or list (the units of a group or collection) one by one in order to determine a total; number; to recite numerals in ascending order up to and including; to include in a reckoning; take account of. 

* * *

The landscape changes slowly from a big city to the countryside, buildings slowly passing by and transforming into trees and old wooden fences, the washed white paint chipping and decaying like his mood. A pair of big green eyes stared intently outside the car’s windows, boredom striking and a lazy yawn held back on his mouth.

 

The five-year-old boy already missed Sidney. Greatly. And that’s not even a word he liked to use even though he was proud to know it already.

 

“Mom, are we there yet?” He whined while counting the great pine trees that were passing by. Sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-five…

 

“Aster, dear…” His mother started, clearly jet-lagged and tired from the fourteen-hour flight. “You have been asking the same thing since we left our home in Australia.” The woman looked quite exasperated to her husband in a silent plea for help. Green eyes stared back at her as if saying: _don’t look at me I’m driving here._

 

“But it’s taking too long!” Indeed it was, a fourteen-hour flight plus two hours on the road stuck inside a car. He would bet his entire sticker collection that they could go to Greenland by feet with all that time. Little Aster hated the United States already; all of his friends were back in Australia, Billy, Ted, Chase… And not to mention all rest of the Bunnymund family. Why did they have to move just because of his dad’s job? Couldn’t he keep inside an office back in Australia? They didn’t have to move for that…

 

“We are almost there son, I promise.” His father said not really taking his eyes from the road ahead. “You’ll like the new house, it’s bigger! And we will have a backyard too.”

 

“Okay.” The little boy settled with that answer. When his father promised something – usually - he kept it. “But I loved our old house.” He pouted, thinking about the beach and the sea and that weird chirping noise the seagulls made while flying. He missed it. _Greatly_. Here the weather was cold and the sky was the wrong shade of gray instead of the bright blue he was used to. There was no salty smell in the air, no waves, no sand to play with. It was as boring as it was unfair.

 

“It’s okay, dear.” His mother had a small smile on her lips. “We’ll be back to visit the rest of the family on the holidays.”

 

Aster was silent at that. The holidays? They were in May yet and he could barely count how many days it would take until they reach December. And he knew that they wouldn’t go back every holiday too because he heard his parent’s saying so before they left. He hated the United States; he hated his father’s stupid job.

 

“Look, we are here.” His father said while stopping the car. The boy looked outside and saw a white house and the moving truck already taking their things out. “Let’s get out now, shall we?

 

Stepping outside the car was a relief, Aster never though he would feel so good just feeling the ground underneath his feet. His parents started to talk with the moving crew and he guessed he was free to take a look around. Their new home was big, bigger that he expected, and there were other big houses around too. The white paint was a bit worn out and he could already see his mother wanting to choose another color for it, but their garden was great and he would be able to play outside everyday. It was enough to make him smile for a bit.

 

“Hi!” The cheerful voice startled him for a second. Looking to his side Aster saw a little girl that was probably his age, pink skirt, yellow ribbon tied to her hair and all those girly things that made his tongue stick out. The boy kept a safe distance from her. _Ew, cooties._

 

“Hi.” He greeted while looking at the glittery fairy wings she was wearing and trying to figure out why she was wearing so many colors at the same time. Green, pink, blue and lots of glitter and sparkles, it made him remember the unicorns his cousin Becca had on her room.

 

“Are you our new neighbor?” She asked tilting her head a bit to the side and waving the star tipped wand she was carrying around. “Your eyes are pretty.”

 

“I think so.” The little boy answered after thinking for a second or two. “Thanks.” No one had ever said that to him; well no one besides his aunts, and that didn’t really count since everyone on his father’s side had green eyes. “Your eyes are pretty too.”

 

They were purple like the wings of a butterfly he had saw once all the way back in Sidney. It sort of made him remember home.

 

“Thank you!” She giggled a bit. “You talk funny, why do you talk funny?” And by funny he really had no idea of what she was talking about.

 

“You are the one that talks funny.” The words on her voice sounded different, just plain weird compared to the people in Australia.

 

The little girl was about to retort when a pair of voices called.

 

“Tooth! Come here greet our new neighbors!”

“Aster! Come here honey!”

 

“Yes Mom!” They said in unison, looking surprised at each other before running towards their parents, laughter singing and dancing around the air.

 

Maybe the United States wasn’t so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, girls have cooties. Except the nice girls, those don’t have cooties at all. (snickers loudly)
> 
> Sorry for the late update, college’s been (still is) killing me. I’ll try to post another chapter or two within the few days, can’t promise anything though… Rainbow snowcone week is coming on tumblr and I want to participate but ugh, college.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, the joys of young love. (laughs)
> 
> I enjoy heartbreaks. Not the big ones though, I like those small cracks that are barely audible and that hurt like hell. This will be a small Sweet Tooth drabble series and I'll try to keep all the chapters number or math themed, also I'll try to not be overly dramatic like I use to be (try is the keyword). Oh, and the chapters won't be in a chronological order.
> 
> Like always, I must apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes.
> 
> Please tell me what you think! Criticism is always welcome :)
> 
> shizu.


End file.
